Teaching, learning and assessment 2024/2025
Support for vocational qualifications
Last updated: 31 March 2025
Use this page to keep up to date with all the latest news and activites for our vocational qualifications.
Complete your cohort confirmation by 2 May
We’ve now opened the cohort confirmation, the second of our termtime checkpoints, to complete by 2 May in the VQ Learner Tracker. This important activity ensures that every learner is on track to receive their August 2025 results.
Not all centres are in scope for this activity; if your centre doesn’t have any learners with missing external assessment entries or who could be affected by Level 3 defunding, we have an accurate shared view of your learners and you don’t need to do anything beyond continuing to maintain your summer 2025 cohort registrations.
What do I need to do before signing our cohort confirmation?
Review and transfer registrations affected by level 3 defunding
If your centre has learners registered on Level 3 qualifications who were intending to top up to a larger qualification in September, check if that larger qualification is being defunded by 31 July. If so, you need to transfer them to the larger qualification now.
We’re asking you to do this before signing your cohort confirmation so we can be confident your learners remain funded and that we maintain a shared view of all learners receiving overall results in August 2025. We’ve contacted all centres who we think could be affected by this, but please check if you’re not sure.
Use our BTEC interactive funding guide
Update missing assessment entries
You need to identify any missing entries in the VQ Learner Tracker and make them as soon as possible if they are still required. We've contacted centres directly where we’ve identified missing entries, but again, please check if you’re not sure.
Review your summer cohort in the VQ Learner Tracker
After reviewing your learner registrations and making any necessary transfers and entries, you should remove the summer 2025 tag from any learners who are no longer expected to complete in summer 2025.
Sign your cohort confirmation
Once you’ve completed the steps above, please sign the cohort confirmation in the VQ Learner Tracker. Your exams officer can sign this with your head of centre’s authorisation.
Log in to the VQ Learner Tracker to complete your cohort confirmation
Cohort confirmation FAQs
Do I need to complete the cohort confirmation?
We have emailed you directly if your centre needs to complete the cohort confirmation. We’re focusing on centres who we can see have missing entries and/or have Level 3 learners who might have planned to top up in September to a qualification that’s being defunded in July.
Why do I need to complete the cohort confirmation?
It’s essential that we have a shared view of all learners who are expecting to receive qualification results on the August results days. We can then work in partnership to ensure learners receive their results on time.
I did this in January; do I need to do it again?
We asked you to complete a cohort declaration at our first termtime checkpoint in January to give us a shared, accurate view of your learners expecting results in summer 2025. We’re now asking for a cohort confirmation to ensure that any outstanding actions that might prevent learners from receiving their results on time are completed.
Read our full list of FAQs, covering how to sign the confirmation, update learner tags and more.
Your key dates and term-time checkpoints for 2024/25
Following feedback from you, our BTEC key dates schedule for 2024/25 has been designed to ensure BTEC results are delivered successfully to all learners expecting a result in summer 2025.
This year we're giving you more time to complete key term-time checkpoints following several improvements to streamline the process. You can find a summary of these updates, along with the improvements planned for 2025, in the new BTEC key dates schedule.
This schedule covers BTEC Firsts, BTEC Nationals, BTEC Tech Awards and BTEC Technicals only.
We're opening this six weeks earlier to give you more time to complete the necessary tasks before signing your declaration.
We’ve brought the BTEC deletion deadline forward so you can complete this work
alongside the cohort declaration, ahead of the busy January exam season.
The deadline for your head of centre to confirm which learners are expecting a qualification result in August 2024, following a check that all estimated completion dates are accurate in VQ Learner Tracker.
The deadline for your head of centre to reconfirm which learners are expecting a qualification result in August 2024, following any changes you might have made since your January declaration.
All internally assessed unit grades to be submitted and full award claims to be made by 5 July.
We are unable to guarantee learners will receive a qualification result on learner results days if qualification claims or internal assessment grades are provided after 5 July. If we do receive qualification claims or internal grades for learners after the 5 July deadline, Pearson reserves the right to charge centres £100 for each of these BTEC Level 3 National learners that receives a result on learner results days.
Catch up on what's been happening this month for Vocational Qualifications.
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What to expect in the winter term
Exams officers
Your winter term checklist
Not sure where to start? Download our exams officer January–March checklist: five things to help you meet the first deadlines of 2025 and have asuccessful January exam series.
If you’re a new exams officer, we need to know so we can make sure you are fully onboarded with all the access you need to begin making registration and entries.
We have produced a new series of short interactive walkthroughs, available on our main exams officer support page. These use a quick and intuitive format to help you navigate common processes on Pearson systems.
Explore our support for exams officers
We have a range of bitesize on-demand training modules to cover all the important administrative processes for the new term on the Pearson Development Hub.
Find out more about training on the Pearson Development Hub
We've also created a dedicated support article providing quick links to all the information you'll for a successful start to the year.
Exams officer support: autumn and winter essential information
Quality nominees
Our dedicated team of Vocational Quality Assurance Managers have a wealth of support to help you get the year off to a great start, whether you’re a new or experienced quality nominee. From detailed centre guides to regular live events, be sure to make the most of the resources and support available.
Explore support for quality nominees at the home of quality assurance
Heads of centre
We want to work in partnership with you and your vocational team throughout the year. Make sure you are familiar with the processes and deadlines involved in delivering vocational qualifications so you can best support your administrative and delivery teams.
As head of centre, you should ensure your exams officer has the support they need to complete your centre's cohort declaration by 31 January. They will ask for your authorisation before submitting the cohort declaration, and you should be confident that this work has been completed.
Teachers
Our team of subject advisors are experts in their fields, many of them former teachers. They are here to support you throughout the year and can help with all your subject-specific queries. They offer monthly newsletters and one-to-one appointments, and you can raise cases with them via the Pearson support portal.
ResultsPlus is our online results analysis tool for teachers. Included as part of your qualification fees, ResultsPlus gives you a detailed breakdown of your students’ performance in Pearson Edexcel exams and BTEC external assessments.
We have a wealth of training events available for teachers, with both live, in-person events and recorded sessions you can access at a time that suits you.
Learners & parents
Replace your original certificate for your qualification, change your name on your certificate and more.
If you’re a private candidate looking for information on where you can take Pearson qualification exams, where to find past papers or if you’re not happy with your results, we’re here to help.
Post-16 L3 qualifications Review
For the latest informaton about the future of post-16 level 3 vocational qualifications in England, please see our dedicated web page.